Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[dza]

Hi Everyone ! New here myself and wanted to start by saying thanks for all your great input on the E4 it is very much appreciated

For anyone trying to downgrade from 2.11 (I assume this applies to 2.8 also) and are having the the issue where "flir tools upgrade window" appears and not the e4 firmware upgrade window, the following worked for me. I installed 4.1.14xxxxxxx which is the xp version still available on the flir website. I used windows 7 home premium 32 bit edition. Follow this path:
Start/all programs/FLIR Systems/"right click" on FLIR tools/properties/Compatibility tab/check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" choose "Windows xp (Service Pack)" also check "Run this program as administrator". Click "Apply and then Click "Ok"

Next follow MATMOE's instructions and everything should work. It worked for me, I successfully downgraded 2.11 to 2.3   e4 1.2L s/n 6397xxxx

This may work for other versions of windows. I did test on Windows 10 pro 64 bit I got the menu to appear but never tested the firmware downgrade because I am too afraid lol best to leave well enough alone haha.

Using windows 10 follow path: windows symbol(start menu)/All Apps/Flir Systems folder/right click on "Flir Tools icon"/"more"/"open file location"/right click on "Flir Tools icon"/Compatibility tab/ check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" choose "Windows xp (Service Pack)" also check "Run this program as administrator". Click "Apply and then Click "Ok"

I can't speak to whether the firmware downgrade will work on other versions of windows other than win 7 home prem 32 bit but the above should get you to the point where you can actually attempt it.

I would also like to add that my camera does the same amount of calibrating before the downgrade as it does after, nothing seems to have been affected by the the downgrade as far as I can tell.

Regards,

I had an issue with the firmware downgrade describe above, performed in the same manner as I was having a problem with flir tools 5.x. While I was able to get from 2.11 to 2.3.0, I seem to have lost the factory calibration of the thermal sensor. My thermal images look terrible now, high noise particularly around the edges. Image is in the (639)72xxx serial number range and was manufactured late Jan 2016.

The resolution and menu hacks did not cause or correct the issue.

The worst part of this is that this is my second E4, the first one got stolen. Had no issues with the unlocking then (from 2.3.0) and the thermal images were phenomenal.

While I am still able to perform inspections with this, my reports will suffer greatly.

I am thinking about trying to push the factory 2.3.0 firmware again and see if it changes, would also be willing to pay to have it recalibrated if this is possible. Any suggestions?

UPDATE: I removed the resolution and menu enhancements, no change. I then pushed 2.3.0 again (this time I was able to get the latest Flir Tools 5 to work) but the problem was still there. I then upgraded back to 2.11.0 and the sensor was calibrated again. From there I tried 2.3.0 once more, the problem came back. Jumping back up to 2.11.0 and the problem went away again. Will share some pics.

[dza]

These pics show the drop in image quality I saw when going from 2.11.0 to 2.3.0...

[SWAGGYD]

Hi guys,

I bought Flie E4 about 1,5 year and upgarde to E8. It was cool, but now i Thing E4(e8) is not to good for me. I do a lot of bouildnig inspection and e4( have very bed focus (this camera haven't go focus). Now I wanto to buy FLIR E40 oraz FLIR E30 and upgarade to E60.

e60 is much better because it has a focus adjustment and a smaller viewing angle, which gives a more accurate picture. With E4 ( I can not do an good picture of the building higher than 8-9 meters.

I have a question for You, I want to buy FLIR E30 from 2013, and I am not sure it is posible to upgarde this model to e60. software: 2.23.14. Can You help me Guys?

this camera which I want to buy:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152040589101?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

[dza]

These pics show the drop in image quality I saw when going from 2.11.0 to 2.3.0...

UPDATE 2: It seems to be working now. Not sure exactly what I did that made it work but I have Res/Menu enhancements running 2.3.0. It used to always show "Special Edition" when booting, noise was present. Funny last night just before I went to bed, it was no fucking good. Today I pick it up and it is OK. Now it just says FLIR and the noise issue is gone. Very relieved!

[tomas123]

@SWAGGYD

Yes, it's works fine with this firmware:

Firmware Feed Flir Exx
http://support.flir.com/SwDownload/app/RssSWDownload.aspx?ID=127
FLIR Exx P/N:490xx (2.23.14) Update Pack

[DaveWB]

@SWAGGYD

Yes, it's works fine with this firmware:

Firmware Feed Flir Exx
http://support.flir.com/SwDownload/app/RssSWDownload.aspx?ID=127
FLIR Exx P/N:490xx (2.23.14) Update Pack

Do you know which firmwards do/don't work with  the EXX series upgrade? Was looking at picking up an E40 with MSX however the information on here is few and far between.

[cuda12]

I think they all upgrade to e60 specs, mine is 2013 e30 with 492xx and followed all the 490xx instructions.

[bookaboo]

@SWAGGYD

Yes, it's works fine with this firmware:

Firmware Feed Flir Exx
http://support.flir.com/SwDownload/app/RssSWDownload.aspx?ID=127
FLIR Exx P/N:490xx (2.23.14) Update Pack

Do you know which firmwards do/don't work with  the EXX series upgrade? Was looking at picking up an E40 with MSX however the information on here is few and far between.

I don't think there are any counters to any Exx firmware versions yet. I was able to reduce the noise factor on our E60 which is manufactured March 2015. A CRC01 checksum lets you mod the cfg file which is unencrypted.

[Chanc3]

You may not have Bluetooth or wifi functionality as this may have been in later models.

Sent from my ONE A2003 using Tapatalk

[Skone]

Good Evening,

I got a fresh Flir E4 with 2.11 firmware.
I downloaded the Flir Tools XP version directly from their site and installed it on XP 32 bit.
After that I followed MATMOE's instructions / the ones that come on a *.PDF file with the downgrade file.
I downloaded the downgrade package - http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=00983732806372988148

Now when the downgrade process to 2.3 is done, the camera itself is working fine but i got this "ring-of-crap" on the screen which can be seen on the photos below. The ring is like static on every picture, no matter what you are shooting.

I havent done any hacks on it yet and aint gonna before this issue gets solved, spose I need to wait a miracle what happened to dza over a night. Was it xmas over there ? =D

 

[Chanc3]

Read post #7762. Have you done a hard reset?

Sent from my ONE A2003 using Tapatalk

[Skone]

Ahoy!

Ye I briefly removed the battery and it didnt do anything, now I took it off for 10 seconds or so and powered the cam back on and ring-of-crap is gone!

Next step is to apply the hack, will do it tomorrow if I got enough time on my hands.

[Chanc3]

Great, glad you got it working.

Sent from my ONE A2003 using Tapatalk

[Skone]

Ahoy!

Now I got the res and menu hack both done but the ring-of-crap is back :<
I did take the battery off several times for different periods of time but its no use. Need to sleep over night and hope it gets fixed on its own.

So new E4´s with 2.11 can easily be downgraded to 2.3 with MATMOE's instructions and from there just follow FUBAR's instructions for the res and menu hacks, not sure how common this ring-of-crap issue is tho.

[Skone]

Now I took the battery off and watched some TV and after that, the ring-of-crap was gone. Fully working now with all the shiz included, its magic I tell you!

[bookaboo]

Condensation on your lens can make your images look awful, may be an explanation.

[Skone]

Its not condensation because the cam has been inside the house the whole time, but it seems that taking the battery off for long enough fixes this issue.

[k4rlhp]

Now I took the battery off and watched some TV and after that, the ring-of-crap was gone. Fully working now with all the shiz included, its magic I tell you!

Thanks for this post.
I've been waiting for someone to try this with recently bought E4 unit v2.11 before attempting myself.
Now this weekend got some interesting stuff in the pipeline.

Regards!

[Skone]

Let me know how its working out. A friend of mine was interested in buying one for himself aswell and ofc I need to hack it for him. Tho I old him that theres always a chance to get it bricked.

[faith80]

Hello!

First of all, I want to say thank you and congratulate everyone involved in making this hack 

Second, I want to share with you my experience regarding the update.
I have a brand new v2.11 E4 which I succesfully managed to downgrade to 2.3 using Windows Vista 32bit and the latest FLIR Tools from Flir website. After that, I applied both resolution and menu hacks, everything going smoothly and without any problems. Unfortunately, I ended up with a problem, all the images have this "noise" on them (maybe this is similar to Skone's issue with the "ring of crap"?) especially in the upper left corner (you can see in the pictures below). My guess is that the image sensor has some problems (this being the reason it ended up in an E4 instead of an E8) which were not visible when camera was operating in lower resolution.

[dza]

Hello!

First of all, I want to say thank you and congratulate everyone involved in making this hack 

Second, I want to share with you my experience regarding the update.
I have a brand new v2.11 E4 which I succesfully managed to downgrade to 2.3 using Windows Vista 32bit and the latest FLIR Tools from Flir website. After that, I applied both resolution and menu hacks, everything going smoothly and without any problems. Unfortunately, I ended up with a problem, all the images have this "noise" on them (maybe this is similar to Skone's issue with the "ring of crap"?) especially in the upper left corner (you can see in the pictures below). My guess is that the image sensor has some problems (this being the reason it ended up in an E4 instead of an E8) which were not visible when camera was operating in lower resolution.

Having gone through this, try power cycling by removing the battery and letting it sit for a bit. It is funny, in my experience what actually did it was letting it sit on the charger overnight. I know that sounds crazy, but I had tried power-cycling it multiple times before going to bed and I was still experiencing issues.

And from what I understand, each pixel of the sensor changes voltage based on the temperature it is exposed to. Not all pixels are created equal, which is why they get calibrated at the factory, a method for compensating the small variances in each pixel . I think the noise is from the camera failing to recognize the factory calibration (do not know much else about the inner workings or why it would sometimes recognize this and sometimes not). I do know the factory calibration still exists, when I went back to 2.11 from 2.3, the noise went away. I did experience some other issues, FLIR tools seemed to be unhappy with my thermal images and would not let me make adjustments or add to reports. That issue went away once I reverted back to 2.3

[sky@eevblog]

Hello! Have a problem with scratched protective window of the screen. May be someone could advice how to better access it.
It appears the glass is held by the same plastic back plate which holds the buttons and should be opened from outside without tear down of the camera. I see at least two 3mm plastic clips deep in the middle of the left and right sides of the screen. Picture attached. But afraid to break it without prior knowledge. If someone knows how to open it please share.

[Fraser]

Sorry cannot help with the removal and from what I have seen FLIR did not design it to be easy !

I have always had excellent results polishing out any scratches using proper plastics polish rather than stuff like Solvol Autosol or toothpaste as they are too harsh. I use NOVUS plastic polishes and managed to buy the three bottle sample kit quite cheaply. well worth having on the shelf and mine has lasted for several years of use. It is used in Pinball machine restoration to good effect. I just polished the piano black surface of a Buffalo External CD/DVD drive and it came up like a mirror 

Video advert from NOVUS



I bought my NOVUS from Pinball Heaven as I am in the UK. It is more commonly available and cheaper in the USA. Apparently Harley Davidson showrooms stock it.

Small size set (with cloths):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Acrylic-polish-scratch-remover-Novus-Polish-1-2-3-VALUE-set-6-Novus-Cloths-/251973776852?hash=item3aaaceb5d4:g:4jEAAOSwrklVZNCi

Large size set:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Novus-Plastic-Polish-8fl-oz-237ml-Novus-1-2-3-acrylic-cleaner-scratch-/251969300521?hash=item3aaa8a6829:g:7usAAOSwl8NVXyw7


Large sizes are available from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Novus-plastic-scratch-remover-plastics/dp/B005F2ZX0U/ref=sr_1_1/280-7528572-5075240?ie=UTF8&qid=1460385649&sr=8-1&keywords=novus+plastic+polish

NOVUS 1-2-3 can be found on ebay as a sample kit.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/150667894330?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=122&chn=ps&googleloc=9046149&poi=&campaignid=207297426&device=c&adgroupid=13585920426&rlsatarget=aud-133395220866%3Apla-142405555266&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=122&ff19=0


You used to be able to get screen protectors that had a gel adhesive that effectively filled and hid scratches. My TomTom Classic satnav has one fitted and it has lasted many years.

My advice, try polishing first and only replace as a last resort. Uses suitable tape to mask the edges of the screen and prevent polish getting under the rubber lip. The Ex series use a very sift and easily scratched plastic for the screen. It should polish very easily. Do not be tempted to machine polish it with a Dremmel tool or similar

[joe-c]

... May be someone could advice how to better access it... If someone knows how to open it please share.

the front plate is glued to the Case. if you press a little bit harder from inside you get it off. 

but I think the polishing way described from Fraser is the better way, if you will use the Case like before.

[sky@eevblog]

joe-c and Fraser thank you for detailed explanation and advice. Will try to go polishing way first. Another idea is to cut the transparent plastic window through and open front plate by pulling pushing the remainders of the window. May be some hot air could help as well? Strange but as I mentioned two plastic clip locks are clearly visible in the middle of the left and right sides of the screen. So they used clips and glue? And the keyboard has no serviceable parts as well?